Comfort item comprising foam filling elements

ABSTRACT

A comfort item (200) has a first volume (202) delimited by an outer boundary, where the first volume (202) includes several foam pieces (100). The foam pieces have a body part (101); several foam arms (102) having a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached to the body part (101), and the second end protrudes away from the body part (101); and several contour recesses (103) between the foam arms (102), wherein the width of the foam arms is greater that the length of the foam arms. Several foam filling elements for such a comfort item are also described. As a result, a comfort item is obtained with a filling providing good filling properties and adding air to the comfort item.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a comfort item comprising foam pieceelements and to a plurality of foam filling element for such a comfortitem.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

When making comfort items such as pillows and duvets, various fillingmaterials are possible having different advantages and disadvantages.

Down, feathers, fibre and foam are possible conventional materials.

Down is the softest of the conventional options, while foam has a goodsupporting ability that allows maintaining a good posture throughout asleep cycle or a rest period.

Combination solutions have also been seen in the art striving to combinethe softness of the down and the support of the foam.

Foam is typically either supplied as a single piece having the size andshape thought to be desirable or alternatively, it is shredded andsupplied in a shape that allows a larger degree of compression thusmaking it a softer choice.

However, the predefined shape of a single piece of foam may becomeuncomfortable during the sleep period, while shredded foam will collapseover a longer period.

Further, it is of interest to obtain a comfort item where the fillingcreates a support for the user either supporting e.g. the head of theuser or lying on the body of the user (duvet). At the same time, air isrequired in the comfort item ensuring that the body can breathe throughthe comfort item and creating a light and comfortable comfort item.Generally, to ensure such properties in a comfort item, the propertiesof the filling is very important.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the invention, it relates to a comfort item having inan inner volume a plurality of foam pieces, wherein said plurality offoam pieces comprises a body part and a plurality of foam arms having afirst end, a second end, a width and a length extending from said firstend to said second end, where said first end is attached to said bodypart, and said second end protrudes away from said body part, and aplurality of contour recesses between said foam arms and wherein thewidth of said foam arm is larger the length of said foam arm.

Such plurality of foam pieces would be suitable as filling for a comfortitem and would ensure a filling material introducing air into thecomfort item. Thereby, a comfort item is supplied which is better atretaining elastic deformation characteristics than the foam solutions ofthe art by retaining at least some air between pieces in theuncompressed state. When using a plurality of such foam pieces forfilling e.g. a comfort item such as a pillow or a mattress, a filling isobtained having good filling properties and adding air to the comfortitem. Inside the comfort item, the foam arms of one foam piece will bepressed towards the foam arms of neighbouring foam pieces, and the armswill be able to compress, but also due to the shape of the foam arms,they will provide a resistance ensuring that the arms do not justcollapse due to a slight pressure. Therefore, it is necessary that thearms are shaped with dimensions ensuring enough foam material along thelength of the arms, whereby the arms will not collapse easily.

In an embodiment, the length of the arms is also shorter than the bodypart. Thereby, the body part is the main part defining the flexibilityof each element, and the arms are for maintaining a distance towardsneighbouring elements ensuring air in the comfort item.

In an embodiment, the distance between the body part and at least a partof the contour recess is smaller than the distance between the body partand the second end of the foam arms. Thereby the foam arms are presentalong the body parts.

In an embodiment, the foam piece is planar. Thereby, it is easy toproduce, e.g. by making a shaped foam beam and slicing the foam elementsfrom the foam beam, or by extruding/cutting it from sheets of foam.

In an embodiment, the foam piece extends in three dimensions from thebody part. Thereby, it is even more effective at retaining free airbetween foam pieces.

In an embodiment, the foam piece may comprise at least one through-goinghole or blind cavity. Thereby, it is even more effective at retainingfree air between foam pieces. The holes and/or cavities may be arrangedaccording to any angle relative to the foam pieces, such asperpendicular to the plane of the planar piece or parallel to the plane,or even angular relative to the plane.

In an embodiment, the contour recesses between said foam arms have awidth being smaller than the width of said foam arms. Thereby, the foamarms cannot fit into the recesses ensuring that the air in the recessesis maintained.

In an embodiment, the contour recesses between said foam arms have awidth being wider than the width of said foam arms. Thereby, even if thearms enter the recesses, air is still present and further, the arm doesnot lock in the recess.

In an embodiment, the length of the foam arms of the foam pieces issmaller than the breadth of the foam arms as measured at their base,where the base of a foam arm is the end closest to the centre of thefoam piece. By having a foam piece having foam arms that are broaderthan they are long, a deflection-resistant foam piece is achieved, whichretains its elasticity and thereby comfort level over time. This isbecause the foam arm becomes relatively rigid and exerts a force onneighbouring foam pieces to return to its relaxed state.

In an embodiment, the contour of the recess has a different shape thanthe contour of the foam arms. Thereby, the foam arms does not fit intothe recess, and air will still be present between individual foampieces. In a further embodiment, the contour of the recess is formed ortwo lines being angled relative to each other in a wide v-shape, and thefoam arms have a rectangular tongue-shape. In this embodiment, the wholefoam piece may be said to conform to a plus-shape, or a +-shape.

In an embodiment, the foam arms of the foam pieces are trapezoid-shaped.

In an embodiment, the foam piece is flower-shaped, clover-shaped orquatrefoil-shaped. In other words, it has arms being lobe-shaped.

In an aspect, it relates to a comfort item comprising a first volumedelimited by an outer boundary, where the first volume comprises aplurality of foam pieces.

In an embodiment, the outer boundary further delimits at least onesecond volume, the second volume comprising a comfort filling. Bycomfort filling is meant down, feather, buckwheat, latex, foam includingmemory foam, micro beads, polyester fibre or other biological orsynthetic material generally being elastically compressible. In anembodiment of the invention, the comfort filling may be water, wherebythe water allows at least the second volume to change shape reversibly.

Thereby, the benefits of other materials may be combined with thebenefits of foam according to the invention.

In an embodiment, the outer boundary delimits at least two secondvolumes comprising a comfort filling, where the first volume is placedbetween the second volumes. Thereby, the user may turn over the comfortitem and retain the softness of the comfort filling between the foam andthe skin. In an embodiment, the comfort filling is chosen from a list ofdown, feathers and synthetic fibres.

By comfort item is meant pillows, mattresses and duvets. The outerboundary and divider sheet are most often made of cotton, wool orsynthetic fibres.

In an embodiment, the foam pieces have at least two arms, at least threearms, at least four arms, at least five arms, at least six arms, atleast seven arms or at least eight arms. In another embodiment, the foampieces has at most three arms, at most four arms, at most five arms, atmost six arms, at most seven arms, or at most eight arms.

In an embodiment, the foam pieces are made of any type of foam such asopen-celled or closed-celled foam. In a preferable embodiment of theinvention, the foam pieces are made of open-celled foam.

LIST OF FIGURES

In the following, example embodiments are described according to theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates different foam piece embodiments according to theinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates foam pieces used in different comfort items.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention is described through a series ofembodiments, none of which are to be thought of as limiting theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a number of foam pieces 100 according to theinvention. The foam pieces 100 may take a variety of different shapes asillustrated by the embodiments shown in FIG. 1. Foam piece 100A is arectangular plus-shaped foam piece. Foam piece 100B is a substantiallyrectangular plus-shaped foam piece having rounded corners closest to thecentre of the piece. Foam piece 100C is flower-shaped. Foam piece 100Dcomprises four arms being trapezoid, Foam piece 100F is star-shaped.

Each foam piece according to the invention has a body part 101 and anumber of foam arms 102 extending away from the body part 101. Betweentwo neighbouring foam arms 102, the foam piece forms a recess contour103, where the distance between the contour and the body part 101 islower than between the outer edge of a foam arm 102 and the body part101. The recess may be shaped by straight edges as in the embodiment100A, as a concave recess as in the embodiment 100B, and as an anglebetween two diverging lines as in 100C.

In the art, shredded foam is blown into for example pillows and duvets.These arbitrarily formed pieces of foam will eventually settle againsteach other in a way, where there is substantially no free air betweenthe foam pieces. This corresponds to the pillow becoming compressed.Shaking, beating and washing the pillows may then be performed todisband the shredded foam. However, this only achieves moderate successof separation and expansion of the pillow.

By having the shapes disclosed herein and exemplified in embodiments100A, 100B, 100C 100D, 100E and 100F, it is ensured that the pieces maynever engage each other completely, but instead there will always befree air between them. Further, by compressing the pieces such as byplacing a head onto the pillow, the arms of the pieces may easily bendand compress out of their preferred shapes thus affording comfort, whileexpanding back into a larger shape when not under pressure. Removing thehead again restores the previous and preferred state at least partially.Since the shape of the pieces are known and controlled, and since thenon-deformed shapes do not engage each other effectively, it is ensuredthat during compression, the foam pieces do not fasten to each other.Instead, on decompression, the pieces return at least substantially orpartially to their natural and preferred shapes. Thereby, a pillowfilled with foam pieces according to the invention will retain itscapacity of elastic expansion for longer than solutions in the art.

The shapes of the embodiments shown in FIG. 1 achieves individual foampieces being both flexible, as the arms may bend, while the forcerequired to compress them is not negligible.

In another embodiment of the invention, the foam piece is star-shaped,has an uneven number of arms, is a sphere and/or is elongated.

Embodiments 100G and 100H are two variations of embodiment 100A.Embodiment 100G is a planar foam piece, whereby the foam arms 102 allextend from the body part 101 in a single plane. Then, only thethickness of the piece protrudes in the third dimension. Thereby, foampieces may easily be produced from foam sheets or rolls or otherconvenient planar foam shapes.

In another embodiment 100H, the arms of the foam piece extend from thecentre in all three dimensions. Thereby, pockets of air are secured evenbetter between foam pieces.

The principles behind embodiments 100G and 100H being that 100H is aversion of 100G extended into three dimensions are extendable to theother shown planar embodiments.

Three-dimensional foam pieces may also take the basic shape of 100D butinstead having arms distributed in three dimensions according to thesame distribution of 45 degrees between neighbouring arms.

Further, star-shaped foam piece 100F may have any number of armsextending symmetrically in three dimensions, such as conveniently 4, 6,8, 12 or 20.

In another embodiment of the invention, the foam piece further comprisesholes or cavities.

FIG. 2 illustrates various embodiments of comfort items according to theinvention.

FIG. 2A illustrates a pillow 200A according to the invention, with afirst volume 202 and a multitude of foam pieces 100 filling up thisfirst volume 202.

FIG. 2B illustrates a pillow 200B according to the invention, being acombination pillow, where a first volume is filled with foam piecesaccording to the invention, and where a second volume 203 is filled withanother type of comfort fill, such as feathers, down or fibres. Thevolumes are separated by divider sheets 204. Thereby, the shapestability of foam is achieved in combination with other productfeatures, such as the softness of down, feathers or fibre.

FIG. 2C illustrates a pillow 200C according to the invention, much likeembodiment 200B in that it is a combination pillow. Importantly, 200Ccomprises two second volumes filled with another type of filling such asdown or feathers. Thereby, the pillow retains its comfort in bothorientations, and the user may turn it over during use.

FIG. 2D illustrates a mattress according to the invention, said mattressbeing a combination mattress, where a first volume is filled with foampieces according to the invention, and where a second volume 203 isfilled with another type of filling, preferably feathers or down.Thereby, the shape stability of foam is achieved, while the comfort ofdown or feathers is also achieved.

When a multitude of foam pieces according to the invention is placedtogether, the recesses then geometrically hinder the foam pieces fromtaking up the full space of the comfort item. Instead, air pockets amongthe foam pieces remain. These are then compressible by a user on use.Thereby, the total compression range remains greater for a longer periodof time.

Further, because the foam pieces are not shredded, their edges aresignificantly smoother, whereby even if they settle into a somewhatclumped position, a shake of the comfort item will release the foampieces much better than will be possible with shredded foam pieces whichmay easily fasten strongly together. In an embodiment of the invention,this allows the pillow not to experience fatigue like normal shreddedfoam-filled comfort items.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

-   100A-H—foam pieces-   101—body part-   102—foam arm-   103—contour recess-   200A-D—comfort items-   202—first volume-   203—second volume-   204—divider sheet

1. A comfort item (200) comprising: a first volume (202) delimited by anouter boundary, where the first volume (202) comprises a plurality offoam pieces (100); wherein the foam pieces comprise a body part (101); aplurality of foam arms (102) comprising at least three arms extendingaway from the body part in different directions, the foam arms (102)having a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached tosaid body part (101) and the second end protrudes away from the bodypart (101); and a plurality of contour recesses (103) between the foamarms (102), wherein the width of the foam arms is wider that the lengthof the foam arms and wherein the foam arms have a stump shape and areone of: rectangular tongue-shaped, trapezoid-shaped or lobe shaped.
 2. Acomfort item according to claims 1, wherein the distance between thebody part (101) and at least a part of the contour recesses (103) issmaller than the distance between the body part (101) and the second endof the foam arms (101).
 3. A comfort item according to claim 1, wherethe foam piece (100) is planar.
 4. A comfort item according to claim 1,where the foam arms (102) extend in three dimensions from the body part(101).
 5. A comfort item according to claim 1, wherein the foam piececomprises at least one through-going hole or blind cavity.
 6. A comfortitem according to claim 1, wherein the contour recesses between the foamarms have a depth being longer than the length of the foam arms.
 7. Acomfort item according to claim 1, wherein the contour recesses betweenthe foam arms have a width being smaller than the width of the foamarms.
 8. A comfort item according to claim 1, wherein the contourrecesses between the foam arms have a width that is greater than thewidth of the foam arms.
 9. A comfort item (200) according to claim 1,wherein the outer boundary further delimits at least one second volume(203), where the first volume (202) and the second volume (203) areseparated by a divider sheet (204), wherein the second volume comprisesa comfort filling.
 10. A comfort item (200) according to claim 1,wherein the outer boundary delimits at least two second volumes (203)comprising a comfort filling, where the first volume (202) is placedbetween the at least two second volumes (203).
 11. A comfort item (200)according to claim 9, wherein the comfort filling is one or more of:down, feather, buckwheat, latex, foam, memory foam, micro beads,polyester fiber or water.
 12. A plurality of foam pieces to be used asfilling for a comfort item wherein the foam pieces comprise a body part(101); a plurality of foam arms (102) comprising at least three armsextending away from the body part in different directions, the foam arms(102) having a first end and a second end, where the first end isattached to the body part (101), and the second end protrudes away fromthe body part (101); and a plurality of contour recesses (103) betweenthe foam arms (102), wherein the width of the foam arms is greater thatthe length of the foam arms and wherein the foam arms have a stump shapeand are one of: rectangular tongue-shaped, trapezoid-shaped or lobeshaped.